What will cause Jamaica to rise?

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The acquittal of George Zimmerman over the killing of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin has sparked protests in the United States (US). Many Jamaicans have voiced their disgust at the outcome of the trial. But what is to be learnt? I believe it is how the perceived injustice, after the death of one boy, has caused thousands of persons to rise up in protest.

Here in Jamaica, many of our young Afro-Jamaican youth die every day, often at the hands of the police in questionable circumstances, and also at the hands of their own peers, unnecessarily. Even though in the US many African-American youth are also killed in questionable and unnecessary circumstances every day, this one case has caused that nation to rise up.

When will we have our own Trayvon Martin case that will cause our nation to rise up in peaceful protest in numbers comparable to those in the States?

In Jamaica, it is not race, but class that influences the injustice every day when our poor young men are killed. I believe that not until we have our own Trayvon Martin will we see a greater respect for life in this country, and our Trayvon Martin will be a sign to, not just the State, but to ordinary citizens who sometimes have no sense of respect for life and difference of opinion.

Respect for life must be a nation's first moral obligation, regardless of race, class and creed.

OMAR RYAN